Frayed Knot

In the last week and a half the Nats have had two blow-up games where they've allowed 11 and 8 (3 in extras) runs The runs-against in those two games certainly stand out against the others since game 5 of the season (right after the Met loss): 2, 0, 2, 1, 1, 8, 3, 0, 2, 11, 0, 2 So that's a total of 13 runs allowed in a 10 games out of 12 stretch - 3 of which even went extra innings And 4 of those runs were allowed by substitute closer Lidge, who has now blown 2 of his 4 sv-opps (2-run leads both times) although the Nats have managed to win both of those games. And even the four game stretch that opened the season prior to this run their runs-against were all of: 1, 4, 4, and 4 Of course their down-side is that they're not exactly scoring a lot. I mentioned in one of the IGTs the other day that every time I look in on a Nats game it seems to be either 0-0 or 1-0 in about the sixth inning only about an hour or so into the game.

John Sickels likes to do prospect retrospectives when guys pop into the news via various feats, trades, etc. So naturally this was a perfect time to do one on Humber Sometimes these are especially useful for a player who has been adrift for a while and it becomes popular for history revisionists to write them off as the 'wrong choice' in the draft and/or never all that good from the beginning. Sickels stuff is obviously just his opinion so there are still going to be the nay-sayers but at least he's not averse to showing you what he was thinking at the time even if things didn't turn out as predicted. btw, we should really change - or at least augment - the subject heading on this thread as it'll get lost in the sauce otherwise.

Ashie62 wrote: I knew that Santana trade sucked. Actually, seeing this has to suck more for fans of the Twins than of the Mets. Humber is the centerpiece of the trade for your biggest star and he appears in all of 13 games as a reliever over two season before they release him. Now, two teams later, he's a regular starter who's gone 10-9 with a mid-3.00s ERA and a perfect game under his belt. btw, nice work by Miami Herald writer/ESPN talking head Israel Gutierrez for providing continued proof of ESPN's stellar attitude towards, and knowledge of, baseball. In remarking on the perfect game for ESPN's 'The Sports Reporters' this morning, he not only mis-pronounced Humber's name (the H is silent) but then proceeded to essentially call him a nobody who only "some crazed White Sox fan" had ever heard of prior to yesterday. No, Israel, this is the 7th season in the majors for a one-time major college star and former 3rd overall draft pick. He's been part of four different organizations so most of those fans would know him as well as would many other semi-conversant baseball followers. Just because YOU might hang around folks who do nothing but stalk LeBron all day doesn't mean Humber is some dude who just crawled out from under a rock to perform some sort of slight-of-hand trick yesterday. P.S. MLB.com is already hawking Humber jerseys

metirish wrote: Game postponed says Lennon Does McCartney confirm? Two tomorrow? Obviously the Giants don't make another planned visit to NYC.

I'm so unused to starting these things that I almost forgot I had the honors here today. It's Earth Day and the earth is doing what the earth tends to do despite the power we sometimes think we have to affect it ... anything it wants. But assuming this game does actually happen, these are reportedly the players who will participate: 1) Kirk Nieuwenhuis CF 2) Daniel Murphy 2B 3) David Wright 3B 4) Lucas Duda RF 5) Ike Davis 1B 6) Josh Thole C 7) Ruben Tejada SS 8) Mike Baxter LF 9) Dillon Gee RHP 1) Angel Pagan CF 2) Melky Cabrera LF 3) Pablo Sandoval 3B 4) Buster Posey C 5) Nate Schierholtz RF 6) Brandon Belt 1B 7) Emmanuel Burriss 2B 8) Brandon Crawford SS 9) Tim Lincecum RHP

The victim of two of those ten Ks by Harvey was Bryce Harper

Sox are now 4-10, same position they were in at this point last year (after starting 2-10 in 2011) and then somehow managed to get to 83-52 by Aug 31 (before going 7-20 in Sept)

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Oh, btw the MFYs overcame a 9-0 deficit and beat the Bosox going away, 15-9. And not just a 9-0 lead, a 9-0 6th inning lead! I was so baseball-ed out after that Met 9th that I gave a glance at the Yanx/Sox score (like 7-0 at the time) and bailed on the TV. Missed the Sox self-destruction and the Humber perfecto completely (both were the FOX games). The BoSox are in serious shit. * Starting from last September 1st they're now 11-30 -- that's more than 1/4 season at close to '62 NYM winning pct territory -- with a team ERA of 6.15 (the chronically bad Texas staff during the steroid era was never that high) * Looking at today's box score to see who gave up all the shit and I barely recognize half the names. Sox fans can cry for Francona all they want but, unless someone can get past five innings (their starters are averaging less than 5/per) and take some of the pressure off the no-name pen, it isn't going to matter who's at the helm. * And the OF isn't any better now that it's missing both Crawford (hasn't played yet this season) and Ellsbury. Rumor has them closing in on a deal for Marlon Byrd from the Cubs. * Meanwhile, Saltalamacchia is 3 for 29 on the year (he dreams of having Ike's stats), Youkilis is under .200 as was Ellsbury before he went down.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The one move I really liked was Terry pulling Francisco before the lead was lost. In recent years, that has become something of a taboo for some bizarre reason. The closer never seems to leave the game before the lead is completely blown. The Giants announcers even raised their eyebrows at that. (I didn't see their eyebrows, but I heard them.) Not sure why the SFG announcers would be raising their eye-brows, Bochy did essentially the same thing the night before, swapping out his closer for the lefty-specialist (who proceeded to blow the lead) and all after just one batter who got on via an infield single! Only difference is that Casilla is merely the recently named replacement closer (Romo the set-up man was passed over and left in his supporting role when Wilson got hurt) rather than the anointed 'proven closer' guy.

Some Pudge-trospective from Baseball Prospectus Note, among other things, the career 46% caught stealing rate. I even remember the season he personally stole more bases than he allowed.

This is our cue to assemble the list of pre- and post- NYMs to pitch a no-hitter and/or PG. And the only man to pitch a no-no [u:3gds96x7]BOTH[/u:3gds96x7] as a pre-NYM and a post-NYM is ???

Valadius wrote: Phil Humber. Perfect game. Holy Shit !! btw, does this means he can now hang out with whatshername Upton on that commercial?

Wheeler is #6 this week on Baseball America's 'Prospect Hot Sheet' (remember, this is not an overall prospect judgement, merely a weekly round-up of who's hot) Why He's Here: 0-1, 3.00, 2 GS, 12 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 HR, 17 SO, 2 BB, 3 HBP The Scoop: Wheeler notched nine strikeouts against Portland on Friday and eight more against New Hampshire on Wednesday to take over the Eastern League lead with 21 punchouts. The EL is a long way from the big leagues, granted, but one couldn't ask for much more from Wheeler than he's shown thus far. He's throwing strikes with two plus pitches and showing flashes with his third and fourth offerings. Monitor Wheeler's lefty-righty splits this season to check on the progress of the changeup and cutter, two weapons he needs to combat lefthanded batters.

PiggiesTomatoes wrote: No happy recap. How about, "Meh." Gary or Howie should use that one for ugly wins. "... And we'll be right back with the MEH recap right after this"

UGLIEST WIN OF THE YEAR Remember Duda's walk + slide in your Schaefer points.

Like I said earlier. Frayed Knot wrote: Ahhh, we didn't need any insurance runs anyway.

Well, unless Pelfrey said he was spent, bad on Terry for yanking him - although good on him for not blindly sticking with Frank-Frank.

Do the dogs in the outfield count as attendance? One out.

The guy Ike tagged on the pick-off attempt a half-inning earlier looked out-er than Ike did ... but still, way to blow a big inning possibility guys.

Ahhh, we didn't need any insurance runs anyway.

Two outfield outs that inning. We're actually making progress.

Anytime you click over to a Nationals game in progress this season I think there's about an 80% chance that'll either be a scoreless tie or maybe 1-0. Currently the Nats & Fish are scoreless in the 6th as Strasburg & Anibal Sanchez hook up.

Infield RBI ground-outs that could have been - and probably should have been - a DP is what passes as a rally these days.

Nothing, except for Murph's two hits, have left the infield so far. All Ks and GOs otherwise.

Francisco is going to be a goofmonster all year, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear whispers of how not being in a save situation affects his effectiveness. Headline in MetsBlog: "Frank Francisco is a different pitcher in non-save situations" The article goes on the quote the stats which show that he indeed has been a different pitcher so far - and that's all fine except of course for the fact that we're talking all of 3 outings each for both saves and non. But then it goes on to talk about how Frankie-Frankie "looks different" when it's a non-save outing, and about how the "energy and presence" aren't the same, never questioning which is the cause and which the effect. Personally I haven't seen too many pitchers who look all commanding and stuff out there while giving up hits.